post your chicken coop pictures here!

[lereg15]

 

[perchie.girl]

This is my coop it's made out of 98% recycled materials (needed to pay for 4 sheets of plywood)

Very cool I love it.

Oh and

deb

 

[Sylvester017]

I am aware of these dangers, but as mentioned before I have to wait for improvement in the weather and I am a little tight on cash so I can't just go drop $100 on supplies build a superb fence. I do plan on getting to this, but there is honestly very little opportunity for predators. Coyotes are the only pesky animals where I live, I live in rural Washington. Surprising we don't have coons, but all the years we've been here and most our neighbors being chicken owners also say they have never seen them here. Not sure why. Anyway, I free range them basically all day so the risk wouldn't be any different with fencing that reinforced. I appreciate your concern and advice, I am doing my best and only am able to get a little done at a time!

Some ppl on this thread had no predator issues for quite a while and then one day found a couple of their hens injured. They thought it might've been the family dog. The dog was chained up yet more hens were injured or missing. Then they discovered a Fox crawling up the chainlink fence. They were ok for the longest time until Mr. Fox discovered his free chicken dinners. We never had Hawks or a bunch of wild birdlife before we had poultry and had to figure ways of using waterers and treadle feeders that the wildlife couldn't mooch on.

Yes, I hear that about the $$$ issues. But as most of us have shared on this thread the safety wiring will always be THE most expensive part of a pen/coop. That's why we love to see ppl build up their pens before they add the poultry. Good luck with the $$$ situation. It took us almost 4 yrs on S.S. retirement to finally get our new fortified coop. We are a small suburban backyard with only 5 hens, no roos allowed but we have city Raccoons and city 'Possums to deal with and occasional stray neighborhood mutts or cats. We have visiting Cooper's Hawks (chicken hawks) and Red-tailed Hawks circling overhead. You wouldn't expect it in the 'burbs but we got 'em! The one thing we love to see is Crow flocks because they chase off the Hawks! Because of the aerial predators we set up a lot of low shelters, dog houses, pop-up canopy, tall plants, even an old wheelbarrow around the yard so the hens aren't running scared targets in an open yard. Our Hawks can be 5 feet away from a hiding hen and won't go after her - darnedest thing but I guess they prefer to swoop on running or flying targets mid-air.

Keep us posted - we love to see ppl's progress. Your solutions can inspire some of us too!

 

[chynasparks]

I have to agree with this post. I went along for over a year with no signs of predators trying to get my little flock. I did close supervised free ranging. I had just 4, one Roo and 3 hens. Then I had 4 new hatchlings. I put up a barrier yard for them and still supervised. No evidence of predators. And then in November/December one by one I list 5 of my flock, all in about a 3 week period. Our police department told us there we're Bobcats in the city they chased one down a nearby street but couldn't catch it. Also coon tracks in the yard. I didn't do right by my flock. Didn't provide a secure covered run. I gave my rooster and juvenile hel to my neighbor. They lost their roosters the same way and they enclosed their coop and run. So Bill and Margaret are safe, they get out, and I hear Bill crow every day. So, we are doing the right thing now, making a safe enclosed run. I just got 5 new 2 week old babies and am starting again. I was warned and learned the hard way and my peeps suffered for it. The frustrating thing is just 2 miles down the road is a place with a large flock free ranging within the perimeter of their fenced property. Oh well.

 

[Sylvester017]

I have to agree with this post. I went along for over a year with no signs of predators trying to get my little flock. I did close supervised free ranging. I had just 4, one Roo and 3 hens. Then I had 4 new hatchlings. I put up a barrier yard for them and still supervised. No evidence of predators. And then in November/December one by one I list 5 of my flock, all in about a 3 week period. Our police department told us there we're Bobcats in the city they chased one down a nearby street but couldn't catch it. Also coon tracks in the yard. I didn't do right by my flock. Didn't provide a secure covered run. I gave my rooster and juvenile hel to my neighbor. They lost their roosters the same way and they enclosed their coop and run. So Bill and Margaret are safe, they get out, and I hear Bill crow every day. So, we are doing the right thing now, making a safe enclosed run. I just got 5 new 2 week old babies and am starting again. I was warned and learned the hard way and my peeps suffered for it. The frustrating thing is just 2 miles down the road is a place with a large flock free ranging within the perimeter of their fenced property. Oh well.

What scared us about city predators was the feral cats that hopped over into our yard. I didn't worry after I saw our old Leghorn throttle and chase one out of the yard. She's gone now but our new Ameraucana (my avatar) has taken up the vigil to chase cats out of the yard. She sees me chasing off the wild birdlife and she's started to do the same thing after watching me. Our hens are free-range backyarders by day and we secure them at dusk in their coop. If you free-range hens in a backyard it's good to have a lot of lean-to shelters, benches, doghouses, pop-up canopy, old equipment like wheelbarrows, etc, so the hens can hide during the day from the aerial predators. As for Bobcats, Lynx, or any cat family, they can jump high barriers/fences easily so having enclosed secured pens for poultry is a must.

As for your 2-miles-away neighbor who's free-ranging his flock - I bet he doesn't tell you how many chickens he loses every year!

 

[WthrLady]

Slowly, but surely

Quick third coat of paint. Then I move to the inside paint job and 'chicken furniture'!

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Slowly, but surely Quick third coat of paint. Then I move to the inside paint job and 'chicken furniture'!

Still totally amazing looking.

 

[nordicacres]

Beautiful! I love the blue coop

 

[saraiquimby1]

and the thread! First, that amount of coop space is HUGE for the number of chicks you have. Second, a 10x10 run will be a pretty SMALL amount of run space for 12 birds if they will be stuck inside all day every day. Won't be so bad once they are allowed out to free range. You didn't state your coop was raised, so yeah you could tarp over 1/2 of the run or the whole thing (cheap AND effective), or build a more permanent roof structure if you wish. Will be nice for the birds to have a little shade from the summer sun, keep airborne predators at bay, and maybe keep a little of that white stuff out in the winter.

For the run, you might want to check into the deep litter method... they will wear out the grass within a week or two and since they love to dig fox holes to dust bathe in, there's little sense in trying to keep it luxurious... just throw in your grass clippings, old dried leaves, yard waste/weeds/etc. you can throw in some straw or hay on occasion or some wood chips. It's really only an issue if their run will be sitting where a puddle forms when it rains. Proper drainage is essential. They will scratch and turn everything into the soil and after a year, you can go in and dig out the best garden soil you'll find anywhere, and then start the process all over again .

Well the coop was an existing barn. So I didn't pick that they will just have tons of space. This is what it looks like (don't worry someone corrected the steepness of my roost and I built a new one )

I'll be adding to that so don't take the picture too seriously. A lot is changing. I'm not done with it yet
Anyway. Husband and I started building a run rather than buying a kennel. And I went big . I built one that is L shaped. Total? 444sq feet . It's a mansion.

Is that better? We aren't finished obviously. We just framed it out today. I'm pretty proud and excited with how big we worked it out to be.

 

[WthrLady]

OK, build is DONE! I put on two more coats of storm paint on the exterior today. Since it was so nice, 90', and windy, I also put blackjack on the lumber that will be in direct contact with the ground in the run.

Now just interior walls need painted, roosts and poop board need built, and OC the run needs assembled.


and sorry for the crooked photo